Building (for) South Africa
On 14 August, the Tyger Valley and Somerset West offices of Tenk Loubser & Associates participated in a house building project of ACT4SA in Wallacdene Cape Town.
The ACT4SA building project is the initiative of the Niall Mellon Township Trust. This Trust was founded by Niall Mellon in 2002 to build quality social housing for impoverished families living in shacks in the townships of South Africa.
Staff members were divided into groups with experienced leaders, and each group was given a task. These tasks, which had to be completed by the end of the day, ranged from painting houses to digging foundations and trenches. It was hard work but it was done in good spirit. Lunch time presented a well-deserved break. Then it was time for the second shift until late afternoon.
The Niall Mellon Township Trust is now the largest charity provider of quality social housing in South Africa. It has built 15 000 houses with the help of 10 000 volunteers (6 500 from Ireland and 3 500 from South Africa). Last year the Trust initiated a skills development programme to train young people from the townships in a wide range of construction disciplines.
For more information or to participate in the project, please contact Hillary Faulmann at Hillary@mellonhousing.co.za.
